JERRY PERSON -- A look back

Jerry Person

It’s one of the those things we grumble about paying for, but when the

time comes we need it, we are thankful that we had it -- insurance.

We are going to look at a man whose motto in business was “Your

protection is our profession.”

Over the years we have looked at the insurance agency of Huston, Suter

& Huston and also when it became David Jones Insurance. After a couple of

years Jones took in a partner and the firm then became known as Jones and

Gillespie.

This week we are briefly going to look back at the junior member of

that partnership -- Arthur C. Gillespie.

I can remember seeing that agency name in my Huntington Beach

Historical Society’s yearly members book for many years. It was a hot

summer Texas day that Frank and Ida Gillespie became theparents of this

week’s look back.

Art was born on July 24, 1909 in Lorena, Texas, a small town south of

Dallas.

The first 11 years Art spent in Texas before the family decided to

relocate to California. They arrived in Huntington Beach on Dec. 11,

1920.

Art attended Central Elementary School where he excelled at sports. He

continued his love of sports when he entered Huntington Beach High School

where he played football, basketball and track.

He was elected student body president and played the drums in a local

band. When Art graduated in 1927 he went to work for the Standard Oil

Company and sold insurance on the side.

He had ambitions of becoming a lawyer and much of his knowledge of law

was gained from working with our police department.

But it was insurance that would occupy Art’s adult life.

He purchased a small insurance agency in Santa Ana and ran that agency

for several years.

Even though his office was located in far away Santa Ana, Art

continued to live in Huntington Beach with his wife Muriel and his two

children Gloria and William.

Art eventually moved to Santa Ana where he operated a second insurance

agency.

The family stayed in Santa Ana for the next 17 years.

He sold both agencies to become assistant sales manager for Transport

Indemnity Co. in Los Angeles.

During the two years he spent in Los Angeles, Art set up 46 district

offices for the company in California, Oregon and Washington.

But all during this time his heart was still in Huntington Beach and

he finally moved back here to stay.

He teamed up with David Jones to sell auto, fire, liability insurance

to many of our businesses.

The firm now known as Jones-Gillespie was at 109 Main St. and that

agency handled companies like Ohio Farmers Insurance Co., Hartford Fire

Insurance Co. and Pacific Indemnity.

Art was the vice president of the firm and Jones served as president.

Art became president of the Orange Coast Insurance Assn.

He and Muriel lived at 1701 Pine St. in the shadow of our city’s civic

center.

The agency remained active well into the 1980s and later moved to

Beach Blvd.

So the next time you’re cleaning out your old papers in the attic, you

might run across one of some old policies, but don’t faint when you see

how cheap that insurance was then.

* JERRY PERSON is a local historian and longtime Huntington Beach

resident. If you have ideas for future columns, write him at P.O. Box

7182, Huntington Beach, CA 92615.